Thursday’s Democratic debate hosted by PBS and Politico was a rather dull affair, but one question regarding climate change from Politico chief political correspondent Tim Alberta stood out as particularly nutty by any reasonable standard. In back-to-back questions, he presses candidates on their plans to pick up and relocate the entire population of certain cities.
Setting up the debate’s shift to climate alarmism, Alberta prefaced by noting that “many scientists say that even if the U.S. reduced its carbon footprint to zero by the year 2050, the damage will have been done, the climate change will have made certain places in the U.S. unlivable.”
In the question to Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Alberta wanted to know:
So, knowing this, would you support a new federal program to subsidize the relocation of American families and businesses away from places like Miami or Paradise, California, perhaps, Davenport, Iowa, because we know these places are going to be hit time and time again?
According to data from the United States Census, the population estimate for the city of Miami stood at just over 470,000, with the population of Miami-Dade county coming in at over 2.7 million people. The same data estimated Davenport’s population at just a hair over 100,000.
“Well, I very much hope we're not going to have to relocate entire cities, but we are will probably have to relocate some individual residents,” Klobuchar initially responded, obviously taken aback by what Alberta’s question entailed.
Alberta tried again when he repeated the question to radical leftist businessman Tom Steyer: “Thank you, Senator Klobuchar. Mr. Steyer, would you support such a new federal program, again, to help subsidize the relocation of these families?”
Of course, Steyer bought right into Alberta’s premise. “Look, I'm hoping that we, in fact, will do what I'm suggesting which is declare a state of emergency on day one of my presidency. I have made this. I believe I'm the only person here who will say unequivocally this is my number one priority,” Steyer exclaimed.
It's interesting that PBS hosted the debate in conjunction with Politico, seeing as the former had a long history of dire climate predictions falling flat:
In 1990, the panic over global warming was in full swing, and from October 7 to 11, PBS aired ten hours of a series gaudily titled Race to Save the Planet. The show’s host was Meryl Streep, who proclaimed: “By the year 2000, that’s less than 10 years away, the Earth’s climate will be warmer than it’s been in over 100,000 years. If we don’t do something, there will be enormous calamities in a very short time.” Earth Day founder Denis Hayes suggested that without an environmental revolution, man could cause “planetary death.”
Biologist Larry Harris stood in Florida predicting “the sea will come up about one foot within the next 25 to 40 years. That means that the edge of the sea, that we’re standing on today, will occur 10 miles north of here by about the year 2010.”
It says a lot about the moderation of the latest Democratic debate that such a bonkers question was asked so earnestly.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
PBS NewsHour & Politico Democratic Debate
December 19, 2019
8:30:13 p.m. EasternTIM ALBERTA: Candidates, good evening. We're going to talk about climate now. Senator Klobuchar, many scientists say that even if the U.S. reduced its carbon footprint to zero by the year 2050, the damage will have been done, the climate change will have made certain places in the U.S. unlivable.
So, knowing this, would you support a new federal program to subsidize the relocation of American families and businesses away from places like Miami or Paradise, California, perhaps, Davenport, Iowa, because we know these places are going to be hit time and time again?
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): Well, I very much hope we're not going to have to relocate entire cities, but we are will probably have to relocate some individual residents. And the problem right now is that this climate change is an existential crisis.
(…)
8:32:12 p.m. Eastern
ALBERTA: Thank you, Senator Klobuchar. Mr. Steyer, would you support such a new federal program, again, to help subsidize the relocation of these families?
TOM STEYER: Look, I'm hoping that we, in fact, will do what I'm suggesting which is declare a state of emergency on day one of my presidency. I have made this. I believe I'm the only person here who will say unequivocally this is my number one priority.
(…)
